It seems like every week there's a new renderer out there. It's simply astounding how many tools there are to create 3D imagery. It makes any attempt to keep on top of it all more than a little feeble!
Here's a renderer that caught my eye...
https://www.redshift3d.com/gallery
Glad to see the GPU rendering guys are overcoming some of the limitations that have stunted the tool in the past. I hope one day this proves to be the way forward.
What I find interesting is we have guys like this going for GPU driven biased renderers, then guys at Corona doing the exact opposite; CPU driven unbiased rendering. Both claiming to be the way of the future.
As a side note "world's first" seems to be a rubbery claim these days! Perhaps there are different degrees of first?
What it shows me, is that computer graphics is still such a young discipline that there's simply no knowing exactly where we're heading. All we can do is keep our ear to the ground on exciting releases and remain flexible.
This profession is one that demands perpetual learning and adaptation. Very exciting!